Picture Perfect
by musicandme37
Summary: Annie, Hal, Tom and Eve go on a trip to a new art gallery and their visit proves a lot more eventful than expected. Hal/Tom pairing and an appearence from Cutler!
1. Chapter 1

Hi guys! I'm back with another Being Human fic! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my first Being Human fic: Keeping Control.  
This fic also has Hal/Tom pairing because I WILL GO DOWN WITH MY SHIP XD But also features plenty of Annie and a brief appearence from Cutler in part 2 (I promised to try and write something from his pov didn't I? :P). This idea had been nagging at me for a while but it wasn't until the terribly sad final two eps of series 4 that I decided I needed some lighthearted 'family' fic and this was born. The fic is set between episode 6 and episode 7. I hope you enjoy :)

Title: Picture Perfect  
Characters: Annie, Hal, Tom, Eve & Cutler.  
Pairings: Hal/Tom, one-sided Culter/Hal hero-worship.  
Rating: meh, I never know with ratings...PG-13?  
Disclaimer: I do not own Being Human! Belongs to the BBC.

Summary: Annie, Tom, Hal and Eve go on a trip to a new art gallery and their visit proves a lot more eventful than expected. Hal/Tom pairing and an appearence from Cutler!

* * *

"So," Annie said, walking out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a tea towel, "I was thinking that maybe today we could..."

"Annie," Hal's voice interrupted her from where he was seated on the sofa. "Have you _seen_ this?"

"Seen what?" Annie asked, forgetting what she had been about to say and sitting down beside Hal, who was watching the TV with ill-disguised disgust.

"This.._._" Hal gestured at the screen. "Just, _this…_"

Annie looked at the TV to see Jeremy Kyle flouncing around the screen. "Ah, yes. Jeremy Kyle. What's the story today?"

When Annie had been a teenager she had enjoyed watching shows like these. She had found them entertaining and they had never failed to make her grateful that her life wasn't as crazy as the people who were on the shows. But then Owen had come along, and he'd knocked her down the stairs and killed her, and then she'd taken up house with vampires and werewolves, and suddenly shows about crazy families and relationships seemed much less appealing.

"Well…" Hal continued, still sounding most appalled, "This man has been sleeping around with…well, _a lot_ of women and that includes a rather uncomfortable number of his female relatives."

Annie pulled a face. "Charming."

Hal's eyes were wide and he looked utterly disconcerted. "Where have they _found_ these people?"

"It's something I wonder every time I watch one of these shows." Annie grinned over at the horrified vampire. "But we are a pretty odd and complicated bunch of people ourselves, so we can't really talk."

Hal snorted disapprovingly. "At least we are not incestuous." He peered at the man on the screen and grimaced, "What do all these women see in him? He isn't even appealing." He declared. "All he succeeds in doing is making me feel very thankful that I am not overweight, horrendously tattooed and still have my full set of teeth."

Annie laughed, reaching for the remote. "Well, we can always switch over if…"

"No, no." Hal dismissed her vaguely. "The DNA test results are up after the advertisement break."

Annie pulled her hand away from the remote and regarded Hal in amusement. Hal realised she was watching him and as the adverts continued, he began to look more and more uncomfortable. He cleared his throat awkwardly after a minute or two. "What was it that you were saying before?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Before, when you came in from the kitchen, I interrupted something you were saying. Sorry about that."

"Oh, it's ok." Annie paused as she tried to remember what it was she had been talking about. "Erm…what was I going to…oh yes! I was thinking, when Tom comes back from his walk with Eve, that we should go to the new art gallery that has just opened in town."

Hal side-looked her. "The art gallery?"

"Yes, why not?"

"All of us?"

"Well you and Tom have been to the museum and I never got a chance to go and when I read in the newspaper about the new art gallery I thought that it could be something that we all visited together."

Hal's face scrunched slightly in confusion. "But who would take care of Eve?"

Annie nudged him with her elbow. "Don't be silly! She's coming with us."

"To an art gallery?" Hal asked in bemusement.

"Well I want her to be cultured! I've been playing her classical music and that kind of thing, but taking her to an art gallery would be beneficial for her cultural and…" Annie waved her hands around, "You know…creative development."

"She's a baby! I highly doubt she will appreciate being pushed around an art gallery for hours."

"I think she would appreciate quality time with all of her family." Annie crossed her arms stubbornly.

"But…" Hal flustered. "It is mine and Tom's day off from the cafe. I have plans already for today. Plans that do not in any way involve being glared at by the public for carting a bawling baby around an art gallery."

"And these plans, do they get much more exciting that watching Jeremy Kyle?"

Hal glanced over at the screen, where Jeremy Kyle was back on after the ad break. "My daily routine activities may not seem exciting to you Annie, but they are highly important."

"But I was thinking that this could be something to help you focus on. I thought you liked…old stuff like paintings and things."  
Hal scowled and Annie tried again, "But of course, just because you're quite…old…that doesn't mean you can't enjoy some of the modern works that will be there too."

Hal either became distracted by the TV, or pointedly ignored her. Whichever one it was, it meant that he did not discuss her idea further.

She let him be for ten minutes or so, but the moment Hal snapped his fingers and said "I knew he was lying! He is the dad! Good lord that is just so _wrong._" She decided to bring up the conversation again.

"So you don't want to go to the art gallery? I'm sure Tom will want to go with all of us as a family."

"But if we all go, it'll look like…" Hal cleared his throat, "It'll look like the 'family' is just me, Tom and Eve. People will think…"

"Think what?" Annie asked in confusion, "The truth? See, I thought it would also be a good opportunity for you and Tom to…" Annie nudged him. "You know, spend some quality time together outside of work."

...

Hal pursed his lips. He'd known that she'd somehow find a way to bring it up. "I sometimes wish you had never found out how I felt about him. And vice-versa. You are an incessant matchmaker."

"Just call me cupid."

"I'll call you stupid." He softened the words with a sharp, witty grin, followed by a disgruntled 'ouch' when Annie hit him in the leg. Hal huffed and tried again "Annie, look, Tom and I have only just worked out our feelings for each other when we are in the security of our own house, this is new to us and you expect us to go public with something we are not even official with?"

"People might just think you're friends?"

Hal opened his mouth to argue when the front door opened and Tom wheeled Eve's pushchair inside. "Hi guys." Tom said.

"Hello!" Annie called back cheerfully.

"Wha' you two up to?" Tom asked, carefully picking up Eve and carrying her into the living room.

"Watching television." Hal replied.

Tom squinted over their heads at the TV. "Wha' you watchin'?"

"Some program which includes DNA tests for possibly incestuous offspring." Hal said, feigning disinterest.

Tom looked blank. "Seriously?"

"Apparently so."

Tom slumped down on the sofa, careful not to jostle Eve too much. "That's proper wrong tha' is."

Hal budged over slightly to give Tom more room to find himself stopped by Annie, who was leaning over him, smiling enthusiastically at Tom.

"Tom, how do you fancy me making you some lunch, and then all four of us heading to the new art gallery?"

Tom lit up. "Oh, really Annie? Tha' sounds amazin'. Don' it Hal?"

Annie looked at Hal pointedly, and Hal couldn't bear to take that happiness from Tom's face. He bit his lip before forcing a smile and saying "Yes, it sounds wonderful."

Annie poked him triumphantly in the ribs as she got up and Hal glared at her over the top of Tom's head.

"I'll go and make lunch then shall I?" Annie asked in a sing-song voice, practically skipping to the kitchen, knowing full well that Hal's angry glare followed her every step.

Tom soon caught Hal's attention again. "I've never been to an art gallery before." He admitted excitedly, practically bouncing up and down in his seat.

Hal smiled fondly and lifted a hand up to smooth it down the back of Tom's head, loving the soft short hairs that brushed his palm. "Well then I'm sure it will be a very interesting experience." He left off the sarcastic 'for all of us' that he was going to add, and let Tom have his moment of excitement.

Tom smiled shyly at him.

Hal smiled back, feeling nervous. What was it about the last fifty or so years that had drained almost every ounce of confidence he had once possessed? He inched a little closer, noticing Tom doing the same. Hal licked his lips and an instant later they were mere millimetres from Tom's.

Hal had only just closed the distance with a soft kiss when Tom suddenly pulled back, nose wrinkling up. "Wha' is tha' smell?" They simultaneously looked down at the baby in Tom's arms. "Urgh! Eve! Someone needs changin'!" Tom declared, standing up and unceremoniously passing Eve over to a more than displeased Hal.

"Why me?" Hal complained, holding the baby at arm's length like a live grenade.

"It's your hour with 'er." Tom shrugged. "I just took 'er on a long walk an' I need to change me clothes if we're goin' to the art gallery."

Hal gave a put-upon sigh and nodded "Fine, fine. Go."

Tom shot him a thankful smile before turning and bounding out of the room and up the stairs.

Hal turned back to the baby. "I suppose we are going to the art gallery then." He commented.

The baby gargled.

"No," Hal frowned. "I don't feel much like going either."

-B.H-

"Annie." Hal hissed to the ghost next to him as they waited in the queue at the art gallery.

"What?" She asked.

"I still think this will not be at all beneficial for Eve's educational progress, seen as though she can't even eat solid foods yet. She's a baby!"

"Oh please." Annie huffed. "She's always learning. She's learning now."

"Learning what exactly? We are stood in a queue!"

"She's learning that you are not much of a family man and that you are even more of a prude than she first thought."

Hal glared at her before turning back to look at the people ahead of them to make sure no-one had seen or heard him arguing with thin air. "Why is this queue so big?" He complained. He hated being around too many people. There was always that little niggling voice inside him that begged him to massacre the lot of them.

"Be patient Hal." Tom told him, from where he was crouched down, entertaining Eve in her pram. "And we don' 'ave to stay long, if you don' want."

Hal smiled back, but his concentration shifted when he felt that he was being watched. He looked up to spot that one of the two women behind the tills was watching him.

"Why is that woman staring at me?"

Annie peeked around him to look too. "I don't know. She probably fancies you."

Tom quickly got to his feet at that comment and partially blocked Hal from view as he narrowed his eyes at the woman suspiciously. "She's still glancin' over." He obviously wasn't aware that he sounded jealous, and Hal couldn't stop the smile that grew on his face because of it.

"She's probably thinking of a decent chat up line." Annie stirred, watching with glee as Tom's jaw set just a bit, and he moved unconsciously closer to Hal.

"Well she will be disappointed." Hal assured Annie and reassured Tom. "She's not my type." He placed his hand briefly on the small of Tom's back.

Annie grinned triumphantly, reaching out to push the pram as the queue moved forward. Luckily Hal beat her to it. "I think people might be a little surprised to see a pram pushing itself, don't you?"

Annie huffed but didn't argue. "Sorry. I still forget sometimes."

...

Finally it was their turn to pay and the woman at the till that had been watching Hal smiled at them. "Hi. How many adults?"

"Three." Tom said immediately. Annie stomped on his foot. "Err, I mean there are three of us: two adults and her." He corrected and pointed at the baby in the pram.

"Seems you still forget I'm a ghost sometimes too." Annie commented.

Tom muttered an apology under his breath as Hal took his wallet out of his pocket. The woman was still looking at Hal oddly.

"She's going to flirt with you in a second." Annie said. "I bet she does."

Hal ignored her and Tom looked a little bit sulky.

"I'm sorry." The woman said to Hal, "Have I met you somewhere before?"

Annie snorted. "She could have come up with something a _little _bit more creative."

"No." Hal gave her one of his small and highly uncomfortable fake smiles. "I don't think so."

"It's just…" The woman tilted her head, studying his face. "You seem so familiar."

"Well I don't think we have met." Hal clarified shortly.

The woman hummed in response, still looking unsure as she tapped the buttons on the till. "So that's five pounds each for adults and children under five get in free." She looked over the desk at baby Eve. "She's beautiful." Her eyes then lifted to Tom and Hal as she seemed to realise. "She's yours?"

Tom, obviously seeing an opportunity to put the woman off Hal, replied "Yep, she's ours."

The woman took the money from a visibly awkward Hal and smiled at them before getting their change.

"Huh. She doesn't seem too disappointed." Annie pondered beside them. "Maybe she did just think she recognised you."

Tom opened his mouth to reply to her but Hal shot him a reminding look. Tom closed it again.

"Right, there's your change. Thank you and have a nice day." The woman said, giving Hal a final once-over as she handed him the coins. She still had a spark of recognition in her eyes.

"Thank you." Hal smiled tightly as he pushed the pram quickly away from the counter.

"Well that was weird." Annie said as she and Tom caught up with him.

"I've never seen her before." Hal insisted.

Annie shrugged. "Ah well. So, which room shall we go to first? There's a new modern exhibit, want to go there first?"

-B.H-

Hal moved to stand beside Tom and join him in staring at the piece of artwork in front of them.

"Is this seriously what they call art nowadays?" Hal asked in dismay. "Really?"

"I don' get it." Tom told him, "It's jus' plastic chairs stuck on top of one another."

"Apparently, Tom, this is modern art."

Tom frowned at it. "I could make somethin' ten times better than this. All you need is a bunch of objects an' a bit of superglue. It ain't hard."

Hal huffed a laugh. "Come on, let's see what Annie's looking at."

They pushed the pram across the room to find Annie looking at a canvas on the wall that was painted completely red, apart from one blue line and a yellow circle on it. "I could paint something more complex with my eyes closed." Annie commented. "Why do people pay so much for these things?"

"Don't ask me." Hal said. "I lived through the renaissance of culture. I cannot believe how badly art has gone downhill." He looked down at the pram. "And I see Eve is learning so much from her experience."

They all looked down at the pram to see baby Eve fast asleep.

-B.H-

Half an hour later Annie, Tom and Hal were looking around a part of the gallery that was much more Hal's style.

"This is more like it." Hal said to Annie, an enthusiastic grin on his face.

Annie smiled back. "I knew you'd like the gallery really."

"Well," Hal scoffed. "That's because _these _are real masterpieces."

Annie rolled her eyes and looked to where Tom had wandered ahead with the pram. The amount of women that had stopped to coo over Eve and gush about how Hal and Tom made a 'lovely couple' had increased throughout the day and although Eve had slept through the entire thing, Annie knew that Hal and Tom had initially found it awkward. Though to be reasonable, Hal found most social situations awkward, and Annie realised that outing them to the public this way hadn't really been very fair to them on her part. Despite that though, the boys seemed to be coming less and less bothered by the looks they got as time went on, and they were beginning to either not notice or care how close they stood to each other when they looked at a piece of art, or the looks and smiles they sent one another.

"You do make a nice couple, you know." She told Hal, who winced slightly, but she could see that the gesture was mostly a front, as Hal's eyes had brightened in that pleased way of his at the compliment.

"Don't start, Annie." He said without heat.

"You do! It's very interesting too actually. See, I've seen and known relationships between two werewolves, and between two ghosts and between two vampires. I've been in a relationship as a ghost with a vampire and after Pearl and Leo, I've now known a ghost and a werewolf. The vampire and werewolf relationship will be interesting."

Hal snorted. "Another one off the tick list then."

Annie grinned "It sure is."

Hal suddenly became distracted from their conversation and ducked his head, "That child just saw me talking to myself – well...you…but you know what I mean." He hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

Annie looked to the end of the room to see a group of people on the gallery tour listening to the guide. She quickly spotted the little boy that was staring at Hal. "What is it with people staring at you today, eh Hal?

"I don't know." Hal whispered back. "But I don't like it."

-B.H-

When they reached the end of the room five minutes later they found out why the boy had been staring at Hal.

As Annie, Hal and Tom approached the group on their way around the room, the boy tugged on his mother's sleeve.

"Look mum!" He said, quite loudly in the way that little kids did. "That man looks just like the man in that picture."

Several people who had overheard looked around in curiosity and spotted Hal. They then looked back at the wall and back to Hal, some looking rather shocked. The tour guide looked surprised too.

"What are they staring at?" Hal asked quietly.

"I don't know." Annie answered.

"Err, Hal…" Tom was standing next to them, staring at the wall too. "It's 'cos you're on the wall."

* * *

So folks, that's part 1 of 2. I'll post part 2 soon - expect a slightly darker chapter than this one with some more Hal/Tom and just a dash of Cutler :P  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and any reviews will be greatly appreciated!  
Thank you for reading!  
mnm37 x


	2. Chapter 2

And here is part 2! Hope you enjoy! Any reviews will be highly appreciated :)

Title: Picture Perfect part 2/2  
Characters: Annie, Hal, Tom, Eve & Cutler.  
Pairings: Hal/Tom, one-sided Culter/Hal hero-worship.  
Rating: meh, I never know with ratings...PG-13?  
Spoilers: For all series more or less. The fic is set between episode 6 and episode 7 of series 4.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Being Human! Belongs to the BBC.

Summary: Annie, Tom, Hal and Eve go on a trip to a new art gallery and their visit proves a lot more eventful than expected. Hal/Tom pairing and an appearence from Cutler!

* * *

Annie and Hal turned to look up at the portrait Tom was pointing at.

The man in the painting looked identical to Hal. The man was sitting on a stool in front of a dark red background. He was wearing a ruffled sleeved white shirt under a fastened black embroidered waistcoat with tight black breeches and long white stockings that ended with black shoes. His chin-length dark hair contrasted with the bright white cravat around his neck.

"What the…" Annie started, glancing over to Hal who didn't look half as shocked as he should.

The tour guide had obviously realised the potential to captivate his audience and said to Hal "You Sir, have a surprising resemblance to the gentleman in our next portrait."

Tom shuffled forward in interest, pushing the pram with one hand and pulling Hal with him with the other. Annie followed, still watching Hal's reaction suspiciously. "It's probably why the woman at the front desk thought she'd seen you before." She commented. "She'll have seen this portrait, but she was right. She had seen _you _before. Because that is you, isn't it?"

Hal just shot her a look that told her to be quiet. It was Tom he should have been worried about though, who was already asking the tour guide "When was it painted?"

The tour guide smiled at his enthusiasm, and even wider as the audience turned from staring at Hal and the portrait to focus on him with interest. "Well, unlike some works of art, this portrait was labelled with a specific date and its title. This was painted in 1678, a time in which fashions were changing and we can tell that this man was very much at the height of fashion, culture and social status at the time."

Annie laughed in Hal's ear "Really Hal? You used to have a fashion sense? Nice outfit…ow." Her teasing ended with a complaint as Hal trod on her foot.

Tom turned to them both with a swift 'shush', before he was firing another question at the tour guide. "Who painted it?"

"Unfortunately only the date and title were scribed on the back right corner of the frame. The artist is very much unknown and their style is an unusual one that differs rather to other artists at the time."

Annie whispered to Hal. "You could probably tell Tom who painted it; if you remember that far back."

The tour guide was still talking about the unknown artist. "It is clear, however, that the artist thought highly of his subject. The man in this portrait only appears to be in his twenties, and yet he is painted with an air of superiority and experience beyond his years. Yet there is also a darker element to this image. Notice the darker tones of paint – the dark red background and the black attire the man wears. His posture is relaxed and he appears elegant yet all the while there is that authoritative and intimidating look about him. The most obvious evidence for this is found in the eye colour of the subject. What can you tell me about his eyes?"

A man at the front was peering up at the portrait "It looks like there are no whites in his eyes."

"Exactly. Anything else?"

"They are black." Tom said suddenly, discreetly glancing back at Hal.

"Indeed they are. No-one is sure as to why the artist chose to do this, but it certainly makes the subject of the painting appear a lot more menacing, does it not? All in all, this portrait is incredibly mysterious. Although the date is known, the artist is not and according to the donator of the portrait, its origins are European, but that is also not confirmed."

"What about the subject of the painting? Who was he?" A woman asked.

"Again, I'm afraid his identity remains very much a mystery. It is assumed that he was of a high status and could have had a title of some kind. Unfortunately we cannot confirm this. In fact, all we know about him is that his forename was 'Henry', which is the title of the portrait. Now, if you would like to move to the next room, we shall be looking at a very interesting set of paintings from the 1800s." The tour guide began to usher the group away, who all managed to get a good look at Hal on their way out.

Eventually all who remained were Hal, Tom, Annie, Eve and the tour guide. "The resemblance is uncanny." The tour guide smiled at Hal. "Do you see any similarities, Sir?"

Hal's lips quirked in a small smile. "A few. Not including the black eyes, of course."

"Of course." The tour guide nodded and smiled back before he followed his group out of the door, "Enjoy the rest of your visit."

"Thank you." Tom called after him.

Silence then descended upon the three friends as they all stared up at the portrait

"So, Hal…nice haircut." Annie eventually broke the silence with a laugh.

"Oh be quiet woman." Hal scolded. "It was the height of fashion back then."

"So that _is_ you then?" Tom asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. But I have no idea how it got all the way here. The last I knew of it, this portrait was circling France, but that was back in 1928."

"Why did you have it painted?" Annie asked.

"I've been around for hundreds of years without having a reflection in the mirror. Every century I'd have at least two painted, so I would have an indication of how I looked."

"So you mean there are at least ten of these portraits around the world somewhere?" Annie asked in amazement.

"Yes, vampires circled them mostly: some through hero worship, others through fear. I know a young vampire I turned in 1950 had managed to get his hands on one when I ran away with Leo. Though as to the ones that found their way into human hands: a couple were burned because they were believed to be satanic. I also believe one may have been lost at sea when the Titanic went down, though I'm still not certain about that. And a few were simply ruined through age and ill-treatment. So if you were worried about anyone ever realising that the same person features in portraits spanning from 1500 to 1900, I doubt any two portraits will ever find each other again. No-one will realise."

"You hope."

Hal shrugged one shoulder. "No-one would believe it even if they did."

"When was the last time you 'ad one painted?" Tom asked.

Hal looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not since 1940. After I met Leo I just trusted his judgement on making me look acceptable. I have no idea if I still look the same." His hands flew to his face, looking slightly panicked. "I was always worried I'd look more and more like some of the Old Ones over time."

"Don' worry," Tom reassured him, "You still look as handsome now as you do there."

Hal gave him an appreciative smile and reached out to squeeze his hand. He didn't let go as he said "As to your earlier question Tom, this portrait was painted by a vampire called Edmund, as I recall. I went to different vampires for my portraits."

"It's a good picture of you Hal, I admit." Annie nudged him, smiling fondly.

Hal shrugged again. "You may like it less when I tell you that the red background is actually made up of blood and not just red paint." He commented nonchalantly.

Tom and Annie shared a horrified look, but Hal seemed none the wiser as he took over control of the pram, still holding Tom's hand as they walked away from the portrait, Tom looking back over his shoulder for a final glimpse.

Annie shook her head, glad that the vampire in front of her was no longer the dangerous, vain, manipulative, deadly man that stared darkly and smugly at her from the painting. Dragging her gaze from the piercing stare of familiar black eyes, she turned to follow her boys.

-B.H-

Nick Cutler paced up and down his room in the vampire hideout at the docks.

"The Old Ones will be here soon." He muttered to himself. "I have no authoritative help. All I have are new, pathetic vamps that are far too cocky to be useful." He looked up at the portrait behind his desk. "The plan with the wolves might fall through, though the rumours that the War Child is still alive might be a decent replacement gift to the Old Ones if it does." He made a noise of pure frustration and threw up his hands. "I'm among idiots here! What am I supposed to do Harry? Tell me!"

The portrait of Hal stared back. It didn't immediately provide Cutler with an answer, but it calmed him a little. Hal had been the one to turn him, make him stronger, and make him independent and emotionally disconnected to everyone but Lord Harry himself. Hal had given Cutler eternal life. He'd done him a favour and now Cutler was going to be a key part in making history. Just like Hal had always told him to. He just longed for Hal's guidance and council. Hell, even to see his old master in the cold, dead flesh would be enough. The fact of the matter was, was that Cutler had no idea where Hal was. After Hal had disappeared with that werewolf back in 1955…

Cutler shuddered at the thought of Hal associating himself with werewolves and looked more closely at the portrait. This portrait had been painted in 1940, exactly ten years before Hal had sought Cutler out and had turned him. Cutler had stolen it out of Hal's rooms after the vampire had disappeared and had kept it safe for him. This portrait, as far as Cutler knew, had been the last one to have been painted of Hal before he'd fallen off the vampiric map. Cutler was aware that there were many older portraits of Hal scattered around the UK and Europe. One had even managed to make its way to America and one was definitely several miles under the sea, after being purchased by a first-class victim of the Titanic. He'd been tracking the portraits, tracing them. He wanted them. All of them that remained. He wanted a collection of every portrait ever painted of his legendary mentor Hal Yorke. He wanted to show them to these ignorant blood-thirsty newcomers who were too young and stupid to even know who Hal was. They didn't know to fear him, because they didn't know he existed. Cutler intended to change that.

It was hard to track them, despite his superior knowledge of the powers of the internet and other records, and Cutler only owned two so far. The one in front of him was the first. The second he'd bought from a German three years ago: it was in poor condition and he'd stored it away safely so that it didn't come under further damage. It was dated all the way back to the late 1500s.

Cutler had however just recently discovered that a donation to the brand new art gallery in Barry, of all places, had turned up another. Cutler had no idea how or why, or where it had come from. To be honest, he didn't care. All he knew was that it was soon going to be stolen from that art gallery to become the third portrait for his collection.

He stared at his original portrait. His favourite. Hal had been so feared. He had been powerful and volatile and dangerous. He was beautifully deadly and elegant. Cutler hoped that wherever Hal was, he was still the same. Cutler wondered if Hal ever thought of him. He wondered if Hal was still the lordly, authoritative, perfect vampire he had once been. In this portrait of Hal, that was all Cutler could see. It sickened him to think that Hal might still be involved with that werewolf.

Werewolves were animals; weak-minded, smelly and inferior. Though as Hal had told him, they should never been underestimated in their power. And Cutler's new plan to trick that young Tom McNair into his werewolf publicity stunt, to out the wolves once and for all, found its origins in something Hal had said to Cutler back in 1953. Hal had told him that with vampires and werewolves, humans would always regard one as more of a threat than the other and if vampires were ever in need of a way out of the public eye or to prove themselves, making the wolves seem like more of an enemy to the humans would be the best way to do it.

Hal had never gotten on with werewolves. The portrait in front of Cutler in particular showed that as clear as day. It had been painted during the height of Hal's dogfighting business. Hal was standing in front of a wolf cage; a naked untransformed corpse of a werewolf was just visible at the bottom of the cage in the right hand corner. Blood splattered the floor but not a drop was on the pristine and picture perfect Lord Harry, who stood tall and proud: probably the winner of yet another successful bet.

Hal was no friend to werewolves, and Cutler knew that if the Hal he knew had been here to give advice, he would approve of Cutler's plans to out the werewolves to the public. Satisfied that he would have had Hal's approval with his idea, Cutler found the help he had been searching for, and with renewed confidence, left his room to find some willing vampires to assist him in continuing his plans.

-B.H-

Tom turned toward the door when he heard knocking from the other side. "Come in." He said, before turning back to his 'hopes and dreams' wall of magazine clippings.

"Dinner is nearly ready." Hal said from behind him. "Are you going to come down? It's your turn to set the table and Annie won't let me do it for you because it'll break her schedule, as I'm already on the rota to do the washing up."

Hal sounded like he was complaining at the last bit and Tom turned to him. "I thought you liked wearin' the marigolds."

Hal gave him a grin. "Not at all, they are quite ghastly." He lied.

Tom smiled at the vampire and turned back to his wall.

"What's on your mind?" Hal asked softly, slipping his hands around Tom's waist and resting his head on Tom's shoulder to look at the pictures.

"Well, I was wonderin'." Tom started. He faltered. "Nah, it don' matter…"

"No, go on." Hal encouraged, pressing a kiss to Tom's neck. "Tell me."

Tom took a deep breath and started again. "Well, I know it sounds crazy but I think if we can find a nice vampire or werewolf who can draw pretty decent, I think we should get them to paint us. You need to be reminded of how beautiful you are an' I always wanted a proper family photo." Tom reached out and traced a magazine clipping of a smiling family, "Me an' me dad never 'ad a proper photo an' if we tried to take a photo of me new family – you, me, Annie and Eve – well, me an' Eve would be the only ones to show up. You an' Annie wouldn't. So I thought, if we had a paintin'…well, you could 'ave another one for your collection, but with us in it too. So tha' when I'm gone an' Eve is grown up an' if Annie ever moved on an' you lived on, you wouldn't forget us."

The older man stepped around Tom to face him and took hold of his hands. "I could never forget you."

Tom, not one to linger long on such depressing topics, suppressed his worries, gave Hal a grin and leant forward to kiss him. "I know."

Hal smiled back at him and his large dark eyes appeared soft and happy, so different to the merciless, cold jet eyes that had been in the portrait in the art gallery.

"You know when I said you still looked the same as in tha' paintin'?" Tom asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, you may look pretty much the same, but you're a very different person." Tom gave the vampire a small smile as he raised tentative fingers to trace Hal's full lips. "You're a much better person."

Hal's lips formed a pleased smile under Tom's finger tips and he kissed them before Tom could pull away, "Thank you."

"You ain't gunna change. Are you?" Tom asked worriedly. He knew Hal had been teetering on the edge of his bloodlust. He'd been afraid Hal would fall for a long time, and that if Hal ever did, he would fall hard and more dangerously than ever before.

"Not whilst you are around I'm not." Hal reassured him. "I'll get a stake through the heart if I do."

Tom found himself horrified at the thought and put a large hand on Hal's chest. "Don' know if I could. Not…not now."

"Now my heart belongs to you, you mean?" Hal asked quietly.

Before now, there had never really been a spoken acknowledgement of their true feelings for each other. There had been no big reveal. They had just travelled from enemies, to housemates, to friends, to best friends, to this. The transition had been gradual, the feelings grown over time. It felt right to both of them, so there'd been no need for 'I love yous' or admittances. It just kind of happened. Tom hadn't been in a proper relationship before and this was the closest he'd ever gotten to it. It was still relatively new and scary, but after going out in public together for the first time to the art gallery, it had given them both some confidence. If anything, Hal's words were proof of this.

Tom felt slightly overwhelmed as he nodded before pulling Hal into a heated kiss and then hugging him close.

...

Annie peeked around Tom's door to find out what exactly was taking the boys so long to come down for dinner. What met her eyes was Hal and Tom tucked together. Tom's shaven head was pressed into Hal's neck and the vampire's eyes were closed, his lips curled into a contented smile.

They were undeniably a disjointed couple. The werewolf and the vampire. The vampire killer and the ex-dogfight organiser. But for some reason, it worked. Feelings were brought out of initial hate and both men had changed for the better. Her boys had changed each other.

But these were her new boys, and Annie missed her old boys and Nina. George and Nina had brought light to her afterlife and Mitchell had brought love. She did not know if or when she would see them again, but there was a heavy weight inside of her that rested on her heart and it grew more by the day, counting down the arrival of the Old Ones. The weight was a mixture of responsibility and dread and the fear of the impending dark times ahead. That same weight often whispered to her that she'd be seeing Mitchell, George and Nina sooner rather than later.

Right now though, as she turned away from the boy's picture perfect moment to leave them in privacy, she felt at peace, because although the world around their home was changing and unfathomable dangers were looming somewhere in the near distance, a vampire and a werewolf had become lucky in love and had found their own light in a dark world.

And for a short time at least, the weight of Annie's trepidation felt a little lighter.

* * *

That's it guys! Really hope you enjoyed Picture Perfect! :)  
Thank you very much for reading!  
Any reviews would be greatly loved and appreciated!  
mnm37 x


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